By Ethan Walshe
Editor-in-Chief 

Fall is stressful for seniors. The college application process dominates first quarter as students finalize their college lists and prepare for their various deadlines. A certain group of seniors this year may have felt like they had an extra reason to be stressed: a brand new guidance counselor would be a part of the process.

For seniors with last names MacLure through Nudler, Jill Karatkewicz (For more on her, read this article) became their new guidance counselor this past August. This followed the departure of Scott Nielson, who was also a new guidance counselor for this group during the 2012-2013 school year. This means that entering the college process this group of seniors needed to get to know their third guidance counselor.

“Ms. Pechacek and Mr. Antonelli made pretty clear to me that I would be the third guidance counselor in four years. That was certainly something I knew walking in … and quite frankly I felt comfortable with,” said Karatkewicz.

For some seniors, this was a bit of a concern going into the application process.

“I was nervous at first, not knowing her,” said senior Ryan Maher.

Senior Jenie Michael had similar sentiments as she entered the application process.

“Originally, I was extremely frustrated,” she said.

Understanding this, Head Guidance Counselor Wendy Pechacek kept experience with the college process in mind during this past summer’s hiring process. This was particularly important to her, as this group of students had been hers prior to their junior year.

As a part of the interviewing process for the position, applicants had to write a mock letter of recommendation for an imaginary student so that WA could gauge their skills in this area of the college application process.

“I gave each person the same packet of information with a resumé, a transcript, a senior data sheet, [and] a parent brag sheet … I gave them the packet and I sat them in a room and they wrote. In the end, it was a huge piece of the decision [for who to hire],” said Pechacek.

Karatkewicz has embraced the first few months and taken the initiative to get to know her students. This is actually her fourth time entering into a situation where she needed to get to know a group of seniors fairly quickly, so this is nothing new for her. She describes the college process as her “forté” and hopes that her students’ concerns have been assuaged with this knowledge.

She says that many of her seniors have made a point of meeting with her without her even asking them. She has stressed that this whole process is a “two-way street,” meaning that seniors need to be a proactive part of the process.

“This may be looking back with a little bit of adult perspective … but I think I would understand my responsibility as a student to reach out to the counselor,” said Karatkewicz about the idea of being proactive.

Interestingly, Karatkewicz faced a similar experience when she was in high school. Going into her senior year, she was paired with a new guidance counselor and experienced many of the same concerns that her students are feeling now.

“I think I have a lot of sympathy for the seniors who were under my caseload because I knew what they were feeling. When I was in high school I had three counselors in four years. I knew that there was some level of anxiety about who I would be and what my process would be … but I think having worked with a lot of my seniors pretty closely now that I hope that I’ve put some of those fears to rest,” said Karatkewicz.

It seems that many student’s fears have been unfounded. Karatkewicz has proven to be of significant help to her students as they enter into this stressful process.

“She’s been so great. I’ve come to her who knows how many times … my letter is amazing and beautiful and she’s just been such a help,” said Michael.

As the early decision and early action deadlines approach on November 1, Karatkewicz further adds that her door is always open.